they lost house seats and senate seats and mitt romney rarely discussed the fiscal cliff. and we look back on the conversation and we think, gosh, it would have been nice if we had a plan that had been laid out, other than what mitt romney was saying, we're going to deal with this in a piecemeal fashion and we come to the table with that as a reality. nevertheless, why is anyone leaving down? why did the president leave town for his vacation, why did republicans start to leave town, why did democrats. if it is as serious as people say -- and i think it is, it would seem to me, even if the tea party is intransigent and that is what you want to say, they are terrible people and don't want to agree with anything, they are there and you have to deal with them, so everyone should stay in town, and can have their christmas eve dinner and do that, stay in town and figure this out and, the tea party, they believe in certain principles and they are fighting for them and think it is a spending problem, not a taking problem. i tend to agree with them, however bill's position is valid